bitBiome Closes Oversubscribed Seed Extension Round

TOKYO and PALO ALTO, Calif., May 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- bitBiome, a pioneering force in the field of discovery, design and engineering of novel enzymes, proteins, strains, and ingredients, today announced that it has closed an oversubscribed seed extension round. This investment underscores bitBiome's traction and global relevance in the engineering biology and bio-manufacturing landscape.

With this investment, bitBiome is poised to accelerate its mission to discover and engineer microbial enzymes and pathways at scale, leveraging its deeply curated and fast-expanding microbial database, cutting-edge modeling and predictive capabilities, and high-throughput enzyme, pathway and strain engineering platforms. The collaboration aligns with their partners' strategic focus on engineered biology and the bioeconomy, as a frontier technology with both commercial and strategic implications. 

"This investment reflects our conviction that bitBiome's unique microbial database-and-model stack is a differentiator in the enzyme and strain engineering space," said Yuji Suzuki, CEO of bitBiome. "With this added strategic support, bringing our total equity and non-dilutive funding including grant to over 45 million USD, we will deepen our modelling-first approach to provide much higher probabilities of success, continue to expand our global presence, and drive partnerships across industrial biotech, pharma and life science, synthetic biology and advanced biomanufacturing."

As biology becomes increasingly data-driven, investors are placing greater emphasis on platforms with differentiated datasets, predictive modeling capabilities, and scalable commercialization pathways. bitBiome's integrated approach—combining microbial biodiversity, AI, and high-throughput engineering—positions the company at the forefront of this shift.

"We are thrilled to partner with bitBiome. The company has amassed a uniquely diverse microbial database, which combined with its advanced modeling capabilities, gives them an edge in enzyme discovery, engineering, and biomanufacturing," said Olivia Jones, Managing Director, IQT. "We believe this capability is strategically important, not only for commercial enzyme innovation, but also for advancing the frontier of engineered biology and biosecurity. We're excited to see bitBiome scale globally."

Shinya Kasuga, General partner of IT-Farm said, "IT-Farm is proud to make our follow-on investment in bitBiome, a leading applied AI company in data-driven bioscience, leveraging the world's largest proprietary microbial genome database to drive novel enzyme discovery for biosynthesis applications. We are particularly excited by the company's pioneering approach to scalable genome AI commercialization, built upon its unprecedented mass of data and unique strengths in microfluidics & biosynthesis technologies. As a Tokyo-based cross-border deeptech VC since 1999, we look forward to further supporting the company's global fundraising and business development by leveraging our international network and decades of experience."

"We are excited to partner with bitBiome as it builds a foundational data and discovery platform for the next generation of biomanufacturing," said Andrew Hyung of Valuence Ventures. "By combining proprietary single-cell microbial genome sequencing, one of the world's largest microbial gene databases, and AI-enabled enzyme discovery and engineering, bitBiome is unlocking microbial biodiversity that traditional approaches cannot reach and turning it into actionable commercial solutions. The company has paired a differentiated technology moat with real customer traction, strong capital efficiency, and a clear path toward products, data licensing, and scalable biomanufacturing applications. We are proud to support the bitBiome team as they expand globally and help establish microbial biodiversity as a new infrastructure layer for the bioeconomy."

"We at Darwin highly value the unique and globally rare technological foundation bitBiome has built in the field of synthetic biology. A major competitive advantage is the company's ability, through its proprietary technology platforms—"bit-MAP," "bit-GEM," and "bit-EVO"—to conduct end-to-end exploration, analysis, and implementation—from the discovery of useful genes to the development of enzymes and microbial production strains—with high precision and speed, utilizing the vast, untapped resources of microorganisms. We highly appreciate the progress of their multiple product development pipelines using synthetic biology, while anticipating future customer demand. We are pleased to be able to continuously support the company's growth through this investment," said Kazuaki Konno, Partner of Darwin Ventures.

About bitBiome
bitBiome is a biotechnology company unlocking the full potential of our planet's microbes to power the future of the bioeconomy. bitBiome's platform is built on their proprietary single-cell microbial genome analysis technology, bit-MAP ^®, which has enabled the creation of bit-GEM: an extensive and groundbreakingly diverse and growing microbial database of over 3 billion sequences, sourced primarily from environmental samples and predominantly containing sequences not present in public databases. Leveraging their expertise in bioinformatics, machine learning and unique use of AI technologies, the company practices a comprehensive and differentiated enzyme discovery and enzyme, pathway and diversified strain engineering platform, bit-EVO, to rapidly develop and manufacture bio-based products. bitBiome is committed to improving existing biomanufacturing industries and creating new ones by delivering unique nature-inspired bio-based products that cannot be enabled elsewhere.

To learn more about bitBiome's platform and services, visit www.bitbiome.bio.

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE bitBiome